


Soft kindness

by Astrumiel



Category: The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards
Genre: Gen, Massage, Pre-Relationship, mentions of amputation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:36:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27363622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astrumiel/pseuds/Astrumiel
Summary: Very quick and un-betaed, sorry!Shout out to BirbBean'd in the TTS discord for this idea!!
Comments: 3
Kudos: 15





	Soft kindness

Addam groans as he sits oh his and Rune's bed - training with Brand took up most of the morning. At his own insistence, he had gone not through just regular training exercises - but through what a companion might go through. Now every damn part of him ached. 

"You know you kept up really well." Brand says walking in to toss something on Rune's desk. 

"I feel like - ah what is the word - the road roller things went over me," Addam admits with a light laugh. He couldn't imagine walking around with the same ease that Brand was right now. He glances over his shoulder as Brand stretches and takes a moment to admire those back muscles again. 

"First few times Mayan put me through it I felt like I had to crawl to the shower after." Brand admits then comes to sit down next to Addam. "You did it all with a hand that moves with restrictions and delays, that's pretty impressive." 

"You're in a good mood, giving away such compliments," Addam says bumping Brand's shoulder with his own then wincing. 

Brand just snorts then moves his hand to Addam's back, digging his fingers into the muscle there before freezing. "Sorry force of habit with Rune."

"I won't complain - it is nice compared to the training."

"Alright, then Blondie." Brand says in an indulgent voice, scooting to sit behind Addam. "I suppose you've earned it." He adds. He sweeps Addams hair out of the way before laying on his side to reach for the brush on the nightstand. "By the way don't think I didn't notice you getting Rune to take better care of himself." 

Addam would reply - if Brand didn't pick that moment to start gently brushing out his hair and rendering his response to a happy humm.

A few long moments passes with nothing but a happy soft sigh, some distant quote from a rom-com comes to mind about how there’s few purer simple pleasures than having someone simply brush your hair for you and Addam has to completely agree with it. Brand’s gentle with his hair, first brushing through it softly then-

“Are you braiding it?” Addam murmurs as he feels Brand’s hands move his hair in repetitive motions. 

“Anna insisted my braiding skills could use work so you get to be my guinea pig.” Brand says casually, there’s a hint of pride to his voice that made Addam smile softly. Time passed slowly in a comfortable quiet. Addam finds himself biting gently on his lip at some moments as Brand played with his hair, when it’s done, and set the braid gently over Addam’s shoulder. It wasn’t quite long enough to want to stay there but it worked. 

“There you go, if you walk by and Layne’s home they might do a better job and decorate it but it should work for now.” 

“My own personal hair team–thank you,” Addam says turning back enough to meet Brand’s eyes over his shoulder and give him a wink. 

“Oh screw you, princess.” Brand smiles fondly, moving to sit by his side again and bumping his knee against Addam’s sigil hand. He doesn’t miss the way Addam flinches and moves his hand to his lap, offering Brand a mollifying smile before he could even apologize. 

“Ok idea–proper massage later. Give me your hand?” Brand asks holding his out. 

It shouldn’t have felt this important, this soft when Addam meets his eyes again and then gently puts his sigil hand into Brand’s like he’s accepting a dance at a gala. 

“So the thing is you hands have millions of nerve endings and a lot of them are sensitive as hell, they uhh -” He swallows, running his free fingertips over the back of the sigil like he needs to illustrate his point. “-they’re very sensitive to touch, especially soft touches. And when you damage them there tends to be phantom pains afterwords -”

“So I’ve learned.” Addam murmurs.

“I’m gonna try something ok?” Brand asks slipping his grip to where the sigil met skin. Waiting until Addam nods before gently pulling the sigil loose then off Addam’s arm, gently like a gentleman helping a lady with her slipper. 

“Tell me if it hurts or feels uncomfortable ok?” 

“Of course.” 

Brand begins gently, first rubbing gently at the indents the sigil had left in Addam’s freckled and tattooed skin, then lower over the healed scar tissue. 

“Brand-”

He looks up, fingers stilling but still holding. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No, I just–please continue if you’re alright to.” He says is in a way Brand couldn’t decipher, almost apologetic like Rune sometimes got when he thought he was going to make Brand sad or uncomfortable with something. 

Brand nods and goes back to it, eyes on the edges of faded ink and freckles. Trying to remember what to do with injuries like this. He gets lost for a moment in ideas, to make this more comfortable in the future, to make training less strenuous on Addam, when a soft noise startles him back into the present. At some point, Addam’s eyes had slipped half shut and a small smile tugs at the corner of his lips. No wonder Rune was so enchanted with him. All that kindness and gold heart and he certainly wasn’t hard to look at either. 

Suddenly this feels more intimate than he had anticipated. 

He keeps moving his fingers gently, keeping his gaze on Addam’s arm until Addam lets out another soft noise and his eyes flick up to find Addam watching him now. 

“You have incredibly talented hands.” He says softly. 

If it were Rune he might have made a joke and shoved him playfully, instead his go-to response is to roll his eyes and pull away from Addam with a final sweep over his skin. 

“Years of training Saint Nicholas.” He answers, getting up and realizing just how quietly they had been speaking moments ago. “We umm might want to look up some different warm-ups for you to do–if you still want to do training with me.” 

“This sounds agreeable. You’ve been a very good teacher, I won’t be quitting any time soon.” Addam replies casually but his eyes hold a glint of what feels like victory. 

“Good, see if you can get Rune to share that sentiment–or at least to show up with you occasionally, he’s immune to half my shit these days.” Brand says pausing by the doorway as he walks out. As soon as he’s around the corner he allows himself a small smile.


End file.
